The present invention relates to a medical tool for dental treatments by means of a laser, whose light guide runs in a handpiece, said light guide being assigned a laser module with power circuitry.
In the field of dentistry, there are presently five different laser types with a total of seven different wavelengths. For example, a dental laser with a handpiece is disclosed in WO 93/19684. With such a laser, however, only a single method of treatment is possible. The same applies also to a medical tool corresponding to EP 0 523 506 A1, in which channels for a coolant are also provided in the handpiece.
DE 198 44 719 A1 discloses a laser treatment device, in particular for performing medical or surgical treatment by means of laser radiation. This device comprises a solid-state laser for generating a laser beam, an excitation light source which excites the solid-state laser, a first optical system with a Q-switch which transmits light waves generated by the solid-state laser as a pulsed laser beam, a second optical system with which light waves generated by the solid-state laser are transmitted as a continuous wave laser, and a system for switching the optical path, with which system an optical path for the light oscillations generated by the solid-state laser is switched from one of the optical paths of the first optical system or of the second optical system.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,342 B1, a handpiece specially designed for dental treatments is proposed. The handpiece contains a functional device which, for example, can be a diode laser, a diode-pumped solid-state laser, an LED, a microwave generator or ultrasound generator. In an illustrative embodiment 6, it is then stated that light from the laser device can be divided into two light systems. The first laser system is used for the surgical intervention, and the second laser system disinfects the tissue in order to reduce side effects or blood loss.
The object of the present invention is to develop a medical device of the above-mentioned type which allows the dentist to use one and the same device to carry out different treatments in dentistry.